Order Passeriformes is the largest order of birds in the Class Aves. It contains over 140 families with 6.500 identified bird species world wide. They are also called perching birds. 3 toes point forward, 1 backwards called hallux and is long. This is called anisodactyl arrangement. This toe constellation makes it easier to hold on to a branch, twig, wire or blade of grass.

A further adaptation for perching is a tendon running on the rear side of the leg to the underside of the toes is attached to the muscle behind the Tibiotarsus (the large bone between femur and tarsometatarsus). This makes the feet curl automatically once the leg is bent and becomes stiff when landing on a branch. So they can sleep without falling down and using valuable energy. Bird foot

Passerines are mostly insectivorous or omnivorous meaning feeding on insects, small vertebrates, fruits, seeds and nectar. Omnivorous birds change to more carnivorous during breeding season. Plant material has less protein which is required for the chicks to grow fast and strong.
The name Passeriformes derives from Greek – Passer = Sparrow, Formis = shape. They originated in the Southern Hemisphere around 60 Mio years ago.

Most Passerines have 12 tail feathers. The eggs are coloured in most species. The number of eggs vary from species to species. The chicks are altricial meaning they hedge blind, without feathers and are helpless. They have reflexes to sense when a parent is landing and open their beak wide to get fed. The beak is fringed with yellow skin to signal the feeding parent where to place food.

Superfamily Muscicapoidea contains Thrushes (Turdidae), Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae), Starlings (Sturnidae), Oxpeckers (Buphagidae).

Thrushes – Turdidae

Are small to medium seized birds with a world wide distribution. For Europeans the Common Black Bird (Turdus merula) is a well known representative of this family. The family was once bigger but many species have been moved when the Muscicapidae became a full family.

Thrushes are feeding on a variety of food – from insects, worms, land snails, seeds to fruits – mainly berries. They play therefore an important role in spreading seeds. They have soft feathers and are mainly ground feeders. Depending on the area they live they are residents. In regions with cold winters they move to lower altitudes during the cold time and move higher up again when temperatures raise.
Their nests are like cups made of different materials and lined with mud and constructed on a branch or where branches fork. 2 – 5 speckled eggs are layed.

Many members of the family Turdidae have quite a large distribution range and live in a variety of habitats. Some few species are very restricted and are endemic to isolated regions. The preference of habitat depends on the genus and species.

The Thrush Family Turdidae has 2 subfamilies in Africa:

Myadestinae with genera Neocossyphys and Stizorhina – Rufous or Ant-Thrush – reddish-brown birds, sexes alike and often associated with ant swarms

Turdinae with genera: Zoothera, Geocichla, Turdus
Ant-Thrushes and Flycatcher-Thrush are hard to photograph. They are shy and in the shade in undergrowth of forests where there is little light.

Ground-Thrush – genus Geokichla

were formerly in the genus Zoothera. Ground-Thrusches are hard to differentiate but range and altitude can help. The differences are in head colour, eye-ring and facial markings. As the name says Ground-Thrushes live on the ground. They are very vocal birds.

Thrushes in the genus Turdus are medium seized birds with brownish-greyisch and orange sides and bellies. Some are widespread, some have a small distribution range.

Many species are split into subspecies. Depending on the author some are treated as full species. Changes are made every now and then.

To give you as actual information as possible we use Avibase, the books “Birds of Africa South of the Sahara”, “Birds of East Africa”, “Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania”. Then we put the most characteristic information to the photo.

You can also follow us on Facebook “Bird photography Safaris Kenya” and see the numerous species as well as the beautiful photos from Lorenzo Barelli. Click on the photo for larger view. The names of the photographers are on the photo and in the text. Without the generosity of several amazing bird photographers it had not been possible to create the pages with so many illustrated bird species. Those photos without name are from Elvira Wolfer. A special thank you is to Per Holmen. He travelled long distances with his friends to find rare species.

Here you find samples of our birding safaris. Some below listed species are endemic and one needs to know the exact locations where to find them. We know the spots and can generate the journey to see several of these special Greenbuls, Brownbuls and Leavelove species.

Our Uganda Tour would be adjusted to visiting the best and most interesting birding places.